Thunderstorm Wind — Randolph, Illinois

2024-04-02 · near Menard, Randolph, Illinois

Event narrative

The Randolph County emergency manager reported snapped power poles and downed power lines east of Chester.

Wider weather episode

Through the day of April 1, a warm front lifted north and left much of the area in a warm, moist, and increasingly unstable airmass. This instability combined with strong vertical wind shear to support multiple waves of severe thunderstorms that tracked along and south of I-70 from the evening of April 1 through the early morning of April 2. Into the evening and overnight, a transition to clusters and lines of thunderstorms occurred accompanied by hail up to quarter size (1 diameter), damaging winds, and flash flooding in southwest Illinois.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9200, -89.8100)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1172354. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.